I miss kerosene lamps at grandma’s house

RECENT events have conjured some old memories. When I was an adolescent and below that, we would regularly go visit and stay with grandma in Tanga. The good old lady’s house had no electricity and we had to make do with kerosene lamps for light as soon as dark hit.

When you are young there are certain things that do not seem to be a bother. Sitting in semi-darkness and listening to the old lady’s narrations was a priceless experience that cannot be exchanged for anything worldly.

At a certain age even sleep would also not be held at ransom by the night’s heat. Because we would play all day and when the sun set in we would be called to take a night’s bath before supper and then it would be time for the evening’s story. 

Before you knew it, exhaustion from all the day’s juvenile activities, and they would be many, would take its toll. We would all fall sound asleep until the early hours of the next day. Every other new day, we explored new ways of having fun, which meant new adventures.

Life was good and things like power rationing would never really have mattered. We never had electricity to begin with at grandma’s house. Thus we never had any use for electrical gadgets and appliances. 

We totally depended on whatever came naturally to maximize our pleasures. Electricity, rather the lack of, could therefore never have been a source of boredom. All that we ever needed was a bright, sunny day and sound health to have all the fun in the world. 

Grandma’s house has since been improved. The grass-thatched two room cabin has been replaced with a bigger house with iron sheets which is connected with electricity. People residing in it now, I bet, have all the necessary electrical appliances many households cannot do without these days.

But the improvements at grandma’s house have its disadvantages. The human psyche has a nasty way of getting too attached to things it grows fond of. To offset boredom, we stay glued to our television sets for hours, surf the internet, play video games and things of that kind. 

We have literally become too dependent on things that use electricity to amuse ourselves. In a country where electricity supply is extremely unreliable, our amusements are guaranteed to be kept in check by regular power interruptions. 

As though the fact that services provided by Tanzania Electricity Supply Company (Tanesco) are nowhere near good was not enough, they had to drop another bombshell. Beginning this Sunday, we have been told, electricity charges will go up by over 40 percent.

The power supply utility firm wanted to hike charges by up to 155 percent. They tried to reason with the Energy and Water Utility Regulatory Authority (Ewura) to no avail. In fact, many of the reasons they cited for wanting to increase charges proved to be untrue.

That alone leaves a lot to be desired. Why would Tanesco lie to justify the increase of power tariffs by such an unimaginable scope? It creates a lot of doubt on whether the power company will honor one of the requisite conditions to hike tariffs which is to improve services and reach more people.

Tanesco has to right many wrongs on its part before taking any pleasure in the increment of electricity charges. The public already feels like it is being shortchanged. We do not get what we pay for, and some who are forced to used generators when the only power supply in the country fails to deliver spend even more. 

As customers we also never get the feeling of being treated right. Tanesco has the legal obligation of telling us why, when and where there would be power cuts before they happen but that’s not always the case. Worse yet, holding them accountable after any problems due to power fluctuations is an Herculean task that may cost more than replacing a damaged appliance with a new one.  

We might understand the need for increasing electricity charges, but we also still feel that Tanesco has an obligation of making us feel that it is worth digging deep in our pockets to sustain them. The increment is just too much for many to bear.  

Those who have gotten so used to using electricity at grandma’s house may now need to revisit their favorite pastimes at home. Not only are your leisure times going to be kept in check by unguaranteed power supply, the latter is also going to be more costly than it used to be.

And since we can’t all just simply commit suicide, life has to go on. Soon we will start feeling like we have drifted backwards in time to the years before electricity was discovered. The next thing you know there is going to be a rush for candles, lanterns and kerosene lamps.

Anyone who is still living at grandma’s house with sleeping habits that are heavily dependent on assistance from electrical appliances such as air conditioning units or fans, should start thinking of sleeping outside. And then the neighborhood petty thieves get their field day. 

Not a total loss after all, it is the way of the world; someone has to benefit in some way no matter how much others are suffering. And then there is just that likelihood of a hike in kerosene pump prices in the not so far future. Oh! Almighty have mercy on us!

All movement is not forward

LAST year had its uncanny yet memorable moments. Enter 2012 and we relived some of the moments. It is a wonder how politicians seem to easily forget that it is always about the people they ought to serve and not about personal glorification.

This forgetfulness almost always leads to power struggle, and there are no draws in political fights, someone has to lose. Last year we witnessed a power struggle within the opposition NCCR-Mageuzi, and some left the ring bloodied while others celebrated.

Then Civic United Front followed suit, they too expelled their maverick legislator from the party following a wrangle with senior party cadres. The real reasons for the events in the opposition political parties may never be shared with us, but we have been told of the ostensible ones.     

I call them ‘supposed’ reasons because, for one, the parties have a penchant for keeping secrets, thus we may never know for sure if what they are telling us is just another way of misinforming us. Why would they reveal their secrets now?

And two, the allegations and counter accusations between the cadres make it difficult for an outsider to believe who is telling the truth and who isn’t. We are at a loss as which line to follow, the official party line or that of those dismissed from the party.

What we are never officially told is that all the fuss is a product of someone trying to tighten their grip on the buttered bread. It is a result of a struggle for top leadership position within the parties, pitting an incumbent against a few otherwise loyal followers who all of a sudden realized that they too deserve a slice of the buttered bread.

When one stays in a leadership position for too long, the trappings of power gets the best of him or her, this is what we are witnessing today. Such politicians start to develop the idea that being a leader is a divine right that must be protected by any and all means necessary.

It is my understanding that both NCCR-Mageuzi and CUF hold periodic party elections to elect their leaders. But to claim that these parties operate democratically would be a fallacy and only the naïve would fall for that.

Recent events have demonstrated just how muscles matter more than the ballot box. What the expelled CUF legislator, Mr Hamad Rashid Mohammed, was demanding has its validity. He wanted the party’s secretary general, Mr Seif Sharif Hamad, who also happens to be the Zanzibar First Vice President to relinquish his post in the party.

The basis for his claims is that since Mr Seif is now part of the government of national unity, with the blessings of the party, he has become incapacitated in his role as the party’s secretary general, and thus should step down.

Apparently Mr Seif wasn’t too amused by Hamad’s proposition. One thing led to another, push came to shove and the best man remained standing. The same story is said to have happened in NCCR-Mageuzi.

A group of rebellious party cadres toyed around with the idea of ousting the party’s national chairman, Mr James Mbatia. I bet they never foresaw or imagined the ferocity with which he would defend his position.      

Recent developments have been cause for concern as well. Perhaps it is a good thing that opposition parties have been on the other side of the fence this long. The power struggles have been a litmus test for their democratic credentials. 

They put themselves to the test and we were forced to observe from the sidelines. And it is sad to note that whatever changes that these parties have gone through do not amount to anything near growth. That certain individuals are regarded as indispensable in certain positions is unhealthy for any organization, let alone a political party.

A political party, of all organizations, should be seen as an entity that will never wither even with the departure of supposedly key figures. A party should be seen as capable of moving forward with or without self-proclaimed important figures.

True, some people will have more political clout than others in a party, but that should always be regarded as secondary. Of primary importance ought to be the functions of the party, among which is the orientation of party cadres to be able to fill top positions. 

Any serious party would want to be perceived as a government in waiting and not a grouping of bickering lots lusting for power. Leaders too must show a willingness to step down when the need arises. 

Whatever transpired within the parties that led to recent events, it doesn’t look like a movement forward. From a distance, it rather seems like a step back, but we’ll wait and see.